THURSTON COLTS

SPRINGFIELD, OR

Coach:                  Blaine Liberatore (5th

                             year at Thurston; 1

                             Oregon 5A state

                             title in 2018; career

                             record: 63-40)

Assistants:          Doug Piquette, Aaron

                             Cook

'18-19 Record:    21-7 (3rd place in

                             Midwestern League,

                             6th place at state

                             tourney)

Enrollment:         1,268

Classification:     Oregon 5A

League:               Midwestern League

CCC Sponsor:     Hampton Inn & Suites

Fun Fact:            Senior post Grant

                            Starck is committed to

                            the University of

                            Nevada to play football.

The Thurston Colts have been an Oregon 5A elite eight team competing at Gill Coliseum in each of the past two seasons, winning the state championship in 2018...  The Colts rely on pressure defense and then look to score in transition or within theirmotion-style offense...  Thurston is very good at making their opponents work on offense by pressuring the ball and taking them out of spots they want to enter their offense and get shots; from that point the Colts want to rebound, run, and be efficient offensively... Team defense, blocking out on the boards, and being unselfish as a group are strengths, and leading the way likely will be Grant Starck (Sr), Santino Stranieri (Sr), Nic Sidler (Jr), and Jake Newell (Soph)...  At the CCC, the Colts will be looking to continue to come together and compete as a group against high-level competition... Despite losing key players Isaac Lange and Mason Miller from last year's team, Thurston is optimistic about 2019-20... "Our potential is to make it back to Gill Coliseum for the third year in a row," said Coach Libaratore, "with the goal of competing for another trophy."